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Attempts to address the dearth of research on Asian and Pacific-Islander community college students by exploring the predictors of persistence and retention, and the course taking patterns of Asian Pacific American students enrolled in urban community colleges. This correlational study utilized data collected for the Transfer and Retention of Urban Community College Students (TRUCCS). Beginning in the academic year 2000 and continuing the next three years, the TRUCCS project was designed to be a longitudinal study of the goals, success and academic patterns of 5,000 students attending nine urban Los Angeles Community Colleges. Of the 4,433 responding students, 16.6% of the students identified themselves in the category described as Asian-Pacific American. The research instrument was a 47-item questionnaire informed by theories of student retention, persistence, and success. The results of this study confirm that Asian Pacific Americans are different from other larger or more dominant ethnic groups and that there are significant differences between the various ethnic groups that comprise the Asian Pacific American group. These differences suggest that significant information about unique and identifiable ethnic groups is being lost when data is aggregated into larger ethnic groupings. Appended is summary information for each survey item. (Contains 33 references.) (RC)